An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions on Commercial Bank Performance in Nigeria

In recent years, merger and acquisition activities have rapidly increased among financial institutions and it has become a very important and practical corporate tool used to pursue firm growth. M&A activities not only can expand market shares but also create value for companies and shareholders. This dissertation investigates the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on Nigerian banks’ performance during the periods of 2001 to 2013. The focus is on a sample of 16 Nigerian banks that survived after the banking reforms of 2004. Accounting based measures are used for this research and examination of the effects of mergers and acquisitions on banks’ performances is made using the panel data model. The analysis presents evidence that M&A activity has a significant impact on the Nigerian banks’ performance. The study involves comparing bank profitability ratios such as return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) of both merged banks and non-merged banks. The results after testing for difference shows that the profitability of Nigerian banks is different depending on M&A status. In addition, results from the random effects regression indicates that involvement in mergers and acquisitions improves profitability with ROA as a measure and this might be because merged banks tends to pursue higher growth, economics of scale and greater capitalization than non-merged banks. However, the results did not show that mergers and acquisitions have a beneficial effect using ROE as a measure of profitability